Soap-holder for washboards.



V. B. ADAMS 6v G. J. SGHALLER.

SOAP HOLDER FOB WASHBOABDS. -ArrLIouIN funn ma. a, 190s Patented 0613.20, 1908.

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4elongated opening therein, a carrier-plate UNITED sTATEs PATENT @Tries VICTOR B. ADAMS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, AND GEORGE J. SCHALLER, OF COVINGTON,

KENTUCKY.

SOAP-HOLDER FOR WASHBOARDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908. i

Application filed August 3, 1908. Serial No. 446,782.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that we, VICTOR B. ADAMS and GEORGE J. SCHALLER, citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, State of Ohio, and Covi ton, Kenton county, and State of Kentuc have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Soa Holders for Washboards, of which the fo lowing is a specication.

This invention relates to wash-boards that have a soap-holder attachment at the upper end of the rubbing portion thereof and the object is to supply a device that is readily ada ted to be attached to the u per portion of t e wash-board and torhol the barrof soap so as to present and feed it outwardly in an opening adjacent to the upper end of the rubbing-surface and, also, to provide simple means whereby the user of the board can readily and minutely advance the said held bar of soap for duly Soaping the clothes While in the washing operatlon on such clothes and without necessity of using either hand to handle the soap.

Y The invention consists in the provision in connection with a wash-board havin upright stiles or side legs and a suitable rubbing-surface intervening and carried by said sidestiles, of a main filling-plate secured at its op osite ends to upper extensions of said sidesti es and having an elongated central opening therein adjacent the upper end of said rubbing-surface, a slotted guide-way on the back of said filling plate registering with said having a Hat bar and a pair of rear, inc ned wedge faces and mounted in said guide-way for transverse movement thereacross, a soapholding plate intermediate the carrier-plate and the oriiiced portion of said illinglate, a

vthumb-screw whose shank is passed t rough a slot or an elongated opening in the upper extension of one of said side-Stiles, a travel-` ing-nut on saidthumb-screw and a slotted box at one end of the flat bar of said carrier,

the said traveling-nut being inclosed Within said box and adapted to carry or reciprocate said carrier plate transversely along said guide-way and the said taperin formations on the back of said carrier late ein adapted to move the said soap-holding Iate forward and thereby project the bar ci) soap the desired distance beyond the face of the first-` `named iilling plate in the progress of the clothes washing.

All the features of the invention herein will be fully hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of a wash-board embodying our invention Fig. 2, a fragmentar sectional elevation, taken on the dottedine a, a, of Fig. 3, showing our `improvement as it appears in use, with the soap very slightly projected beyond the face of the main lling-plate that closes the u per portion of the Wash-board between t e upper extensions of the side-Stiles; Fig. 3, a fragmentary elevation showing the rear face of the upper portion'of the wash-board, with our improvement clearly indicated therein; Fi 4, a transverse section taken on the dotte -line' b, b, of Fig. 3, but on a somewhat larger scale and showing our device in operative position ready for the Soaping of the clothes to be washed; and Fig. 5, a front elevation of the soap-holding back-plate adapted for use immediately back of the feed orifice in the lling-plate.

In these views, 1 and 2 respectively represent the u right side-Stiles or side legs of a wash-boar and 3 the rubbingfsurface supported by said side-Stiles and laid, as customary, over a back-board 4. The rubbingsurface is shown as being made of corrugated material in the ordinary form long in use, but it is obvious that any suitable form of rub hing-surface may be used in the wash-board as that is not material to the essential feature of our invention herein and constitutes no part of such invention excepting, as a matter` of course, the part it takes in the washing of the clothes after the Soaping thereof.

la and 2a respectively indicate the cusl tomary upper extensions of the side-Stiles, their extreme upper ends being connected by a transverse top-bar 5 in the usual manner, and a transverse bottom-bar 6 is provided in the wash-board at the top of the rubbingsurface 3, as best seen in Fig. 2, in a like usual manner.

The upper extensions 1"J1 and 2f* and the transverse bars 5 and 6 form the usual soa carrying receptacle of a wash-board, but 1n the use of the ordinary wash-board a wooden filling-board orback is inserted in the opensaid threaded shank and reciprocate the cuaring between said extensions and transverse bars. ln the application of our device herein, we prefer to discard said wooden illingi board and use instead a metal filling-plate 7 l whose opposite ends 7DL are ianged and bent over so that the body portion of the plate may set back within the opening and on a suitable vertical plane with the upper rubhing-edges ol said rubbing-surface 3 and to i, provide for the attaching screws or nails 7 b, all as best seen in Fig. 2.

An elongated, rectangular opening or ori fice S is provided in the lower central portion of the filling-plate 7, with its lower edge adjacent the upper edge of said rubbing-surface 3 and a guide-way is provided on the back of said plate 7, registering with said orifice 8. Said guide-way is composed of a raised frame 9 having an elongated opening 9a, longitudinal feet 9b being provided along the opposite upper and lower edges of such frame and accommodating rivets 9C whereby the guideway is secured to the back of the plate 7. A back-plate a is provided to the rear of orifice 8 and has vertically-projecting corners 8b to fit freely against the opposite end walls of the raised frame 9 of the guidesway, so that it may move to and from the orifice 8, as hereinafter referred to.

A soap-carrier frame is provided in the guide-way back of plate 8a and the orifice 8 and is composed of a flat bar or thin strip of sheet-metal forming a carrier-plate 10 whose longitudinal side edges have a slide-fit in said guide-way, and a pair of tapered members 11, 11a, are provided on the back of said carrier-plate 10 to form wedge or forwardlyprojecting means on the carrier for advancing said carrier and back-plate 821 toward the main filling-plate 7. An extension 12- is provided at one end of the carrier-plate 10 and carries on its rear side an open box 13 having elongated openings or slots 14 in its two walls or sides, as best seen in Fig. 4.

15 indicates the threaded shank of a thumb-screw, 15 indicating the handle at the outer end thereof, and 16 a nut on said threaded shank, the latter passing through the slots 14 in the boX 13 of the carrier and said nut 16 being located on the said shank between the sides or walls of said box 18, so that when the thumb-screw is turned in either direction, it (said nut) will travel along rier in its guide-way back ofthe soap o ening or orifice 8. A horizontally-elongate opening 15b is made in the upper extension 1L of the side-stile 1 to suitably accommodate the thumb-screw 15 and allow a pivotal movement of said thumb-screw on its bearingwasher 17 to compensate for the allowance made for the movement of said screw-shank in the slots 14 of the traveling-nut box 13 and for the forwardly-projecting or advancing and retreating movements of the soapcarrier devices Vto and from the orifice 8 in the filling-plate 7, all as will be readily understood, especially by reference to the structure seen in Fig. 4.

An opening or slot 11b and a notch 11C are provided in the wedge-member 11a and the guide-frame 9, respectively, to allow for the pivotal movement of the inner end ofthe shank of the thumb-screw 15 in reciprocating the soap-carrier across the orifice 8. A nut 15L is provided on the screw 15 adjacent the inner end of the opening 15b and is held from reciprocating or traveling along the screw by means of a transverse pin lb, passed through the nut and screw. This nut prevents the undue pulling of the carrier-frame across its guide-way independent of the nut 16.

In the operation of our device, a bar of soap :t is placed against the face of backlate 8a within the orifice 8, after the carrier has been duly retreated a suitable distance backward for the outer face of the soap to project but very slightly beyond the plane or outer face of the filling-plate 7, as best seen in Figs, 2 and 4. The bar of soap is preferably moistened before placing against the back-plate 8*L in said orifice, so that its inner face shall somewhat stick and at the same time the sliding of the carrier plate along the rear face of back-plate 8a is effected or permitted, which will be readily understood. In soaping the clothes, they are taken from the water, piece by piece, as usual, and rubbed over the outer face of the bar of soap and then rubbed as'usual over the corrugated surface 3 and then easily resoa ed, if necessary, in a like manner and wit iout the operator handling or touching the soap, or without putting such soap in the water below as is customarily the case in the use of wash-boards having the ordinary soapreceptacle at the top of the board from whence it may be accidentally dis laced and wholly subjected to a flushing o' water to unduly waste it. As the slightly projecting face of the soap wears away in the washing of the clothes, the bar or cake is very easily projected outwardly, as the wash progresses, by

simply turning the thumb-screw 15 whose` pitch is such that even the slightest part of the bar may be made to project beyond the orifice 8, or even put on the same plane as that of the outer face of the iillinglate 7, or sufficient to suit the kind of clot es being washed, some clothes taking a greater amount of soap than others', and some that are more soiled than others taking a correspondingly greater amount each time they are soaped, and our device being especially adapted to suit the condition and character of the clothes, as is very clearly obvious. It will be seen, in Fig. 4, that the side edges of the orifice 8 are turned or bent over inwardly and rounded slightly, thereby forming a suitable wall at either side Yto prevent the soap itself becoming cut into or indented, or sliding under or back of the said iilling-plate 7, laterally away from the orifice 8. Spacing blocks 18 are provided on the backs of the side-stiles to rest the board upon the edge of the tub and permit free movement of the wedges 11 and 11a'.

We claim 1. A soap-holder for a wash-board, comprising a plate having an elongated opening or orifice, a guide-Way on the back of said plate and coinciding with said oriiice, a carrier-plate in said guide-way, tapering means carried by said carrier-plate and f adapted to forwardly-project said carrierplate toward said orilice, and means for reciprocating said carrier-plate across the rear of said oriiice.

2. A soap-holder for Wash-boards, coinprising a filling-plate having an oriiice for the soap therein, a raised and oriiced uideframe mounted on the rear face of said nllingplate registering with said soap-oriiice, a carrier-plate engaging said guide-way and having thereon a pair of inclined or tapered members adapted to engage said guide-way and forwardly-project said carrier toward said soap-orifice, a slotted box at the fore end of said carrier, a thumb-screw having a trav eling-nut thereon and adapted to engage 5.

within said slotted boX to propel or reciprocate said soap-projecting carrier and a suitable frame for supporting the device above a rubbing-surface.

3. A soap-holder for wash-boards, comprising a lling-plate having an orifice for the soap therein, a rearwardly and forwardly movable back-plate in said orifice, a raised and oriiced guide-frame mounted on the rear face of said filling-plate registering with said soap-oriiice and back-plate, a carrierplate engaging said guide-way and having thereon a pair of tapered members or wedges adapted to engage said guide-way and forwardly-project said carrier and back-plate toward said soa -oriiice, and means for reciprocating sai carrier-plate across said guide-way- VICTOR B. ADAMS. GEORGE J. SCHALLER.

Witnesses:

ERNEST H. ADAMS, JOHN ELIAS JoNEs. 

